Ain't No Sunshine
by CantHoldOn
Summary: Raven films a wild Clarke Griffin in her very unnatural habitat (talking to Lexa). Clarke helps Lexa with an internship application inside an abandoned factory (which is totally safe). Octavia finally gets the guts to tell her brother that she's dating someone (and he's in college). There's a call for severe storms, but the weather can't get that bad... right? (It gets really bad.)
1. Chapter 1

**Here's The 100/Into the Storm crossover that no one asked for. As always, your feedback is much appreciated.**

**Rated: M (language, near death experiences)**

**Summary: Raven films a wild Clarke Griffin in her very unnatural habitat (talking to Lexa). Clarke helps Lexa with an internship application inside an abandoned factory (which is totally safe). Octavia finally gets the guts to tell her brother that she's dating someone (and he's in college). There's a call for severe storms, but the weather can't get that bad... right? (It gets really bad.)**

* * *

**CHAPTER 1**

Raven checked the lens of her digital camcorder before turning the device around and flipping open the LCD screen. She hit the record button and panned around the high school's bustling parking lot. When her blonde best friend came up on the screen, she paused and chuckled.

"And here we see a wild Clarke Griffin in her natural habitat," she narrated the recording, zooming in. "As you can see, the Clarke makes younger boys quite nervous as they fumble over their words and shift uncomfortably."

She took a few steps closer, hoping to get a better shot as Clarke spoke to two boys a grade behind them – Monty Green and Jasper Jordan. "The Clarke seems rather oblivious to the effect she has on them… making this even better. Unfortunately for them, just last week she decided to take a break from boys – all boys. So, sorry Monty, Jasper, Bellamy, Murphy, Wells…"

When Clarke finally noticed that she was being watched, Raven snapped the screen shut and smiled innocently as she walked over. With the approach of the other girl, Monty and Jasper quickly made up excuses to run away. Apparently more than one pretty girl was too much for the awkward boys to handle.

"What were you doing?" Clarke questioned suspiciously.

"Filming the wild Clarke in her natural habitat," Raven answered through a laugh, flipping the screen open and pointing the camera up at the blonde. "I've never been this close to a Clarke Griffin in the wild before."

"Oh my god," the other girl groaned, lifting her hand and pushing the camera away.

"Oh, come on, that was _funny._"

"Aren't you supposed to be filming for the school yearbook committee? Not tormenting me?"

"You're a lot more fun than this stupid time capsule project," Raven answered with a grin. As she brought the camera back up to pan across the lot and glanced at the screen, something else caught her eye. "Oh, what do we have here?"

Through the camera screen, she watched as one of their classmates debated with one of their teachers. The two were close enough to hear the conversation.

"I'm sorry, but the application _has_ to be in by tomorrow morning," Mr. Wallace stated.

"The file won't open. I've been working on this for weeks," Lexa argued. "There's no way I can redo it all today."

"The application deadline for the summer internship is tomorrow morning," the teacher replied firmly before turning to head into the school.

Lexa's shoulders fell in defeat and she ran a hand through her hair. She hesitated only a moment before going into the school as well.

"There's your chance," Raven suddenly told Clarke, swinging the camera back to her friend.

"My chance?" Clarke asked, puzzled.

"Oh my god," Raven stomped her foot. "You have been crushing on that girl since the beginning of the year. She's been single all year. It's a sign!"

"You call _that_ a sign?" the blonde questioned, perking a brow.

"Obviously it is! Now go get the girl, Princess!" Raven waved Clarke off with a hand, trying to encourage her to go off after Lexa.

"Wait, no. I can't," Clarke shook her head. "I have to set up the cameras for graduation."

Raven grunted in frustration. "I'll take care of the setup, don't you worry about that. Your girl is getting away – go! Do something for yourself for once. Shoo!"

"Fine." Clarke rolled her eyes and turned away from her friend, heading inside.

Raven kept the camera on the blonde until she got inside the doors. "I've _got_ to watch this train wreck," she decided, and headed in after her friend. She managed to get inside just in time to see Clarke head into the library. As quickly as she could with her braced leg, she hurried over to the library door and brought the camera up. She grimaced as she watched Clarke browse some of the books, while eying Lexa.

This was going to be painful.

Clarke took a few moments to gather up her courage, while she glanced around at shelves of books. Finally, with a deep breath, she walked toward the table that her brunette crush was sitting at. It was obvious that the other girl was still upset, so she tried to ease herself in.

"Um, Lexa?" Her voice sounded foreign, even to her, as she addressed the other.

The brunette glanced up and perked a brow. "Hey…"

Clarke eased herself closer, doing her best to be smooth – and feeling like she was failing at it. "It's Clarke – Griffin," she introduced herself.

Lexa glanced down at her computer with a faint smile, wiping it away before looking back up at the blonde. "Yeah, I know who you are," she pointed out.

Raven grimaced. "Oh, strike one," she commented quietly.

"Whatcha doing?" another girl asked, coming up behind Raven and resting her chin on spying girl's shoulder.

"Watching Clarke crash and burn," Raven explained, briefly glancing over at Octavia with a smirk.

"Oh god," the brunette said. "Is that Lexa Woods?"

"Sure is," Raven confirmed with a chuckle.

Clarke moved up next to Lexa's table. "So… um, I saw what happened with you and Wallace outside," the blonde started, clearly unsure of herself. "I just wanted to come and see if you're okay."

"Oh, that… not really," Lexa said, turning back to her computer and running both hands through her hair. "I had made this video to go with my application for a summer internship… now the whole file is corrupted. I don't know what happened, it was fine yesterday."

As the brunette spoke, Clarke slid her backpack off and took a seat next to her classmate. She leaned in a bit and looked at the file in question. "Yeah… that's toast," she admitted. "What was it about?"

"You know that abandoned factory up north?"

"Oh, the old paper mill?"

"Yeah," Lexa nodded, smiling faintly at Clarke's recognition. "You know… when they shut down, the state government never paid for an official clean up. There's all these chemicals and hazardous materials just sitting out there, probably running off into the town's water supply. That's what the film was about… and this application makes no sense without it."

Raven could see the opportunity blossoming, if her friend would take it. "Okay, come on, you can do this," she quietly rooted for the blonde.

"Just ask her out already," Octavia added.

"What are we doing?" Octavia's brother asked as he approached.

"Shush!" both girls hushed him, leaning in closer to the door so they didn't miss anything.

Clarke looked back at the video that was all bright, moving colors and no sound. "It sounds really important to you," she observed.

Lexa glanced up and met blue eyes. "Gotta take care of the planet, right?"

"Or else the planet will take care of us," Clarke suggested.

The three watching cringed at that. "Strike two," Raven shook her head.

"Wait, is Clarke trying to actually… flirt, with Lexa?" Bellamy questioned.

"Yes, now shut up!" his sister snapped, blindly reaching back to try and smack him. "I gotta go in there and help her. She needs a wingman."

"No way," Bellamy grabbed her by the wrist before she could walk inside. "Our bet is that she gets a date on her own, not with help."

Raven glanced away from the camera and looked between the siblings. "You two have a bet going on Clarke's ability to get a date with Lexa?" she questioned, earning a pair of nods. "You're evil. And that's genius."

Lexa let out an awkward laugh, attempting to go back to the work on her laptop. "Yeah, well, some of us care."

"Wait, maybe I can help," Clarke blurted out, leaning toward the brunette. "I've got all these cameras and this editing software."

"Really?"

"Yeah, it'd be easy. We could re-shoot all of this, no problem." At least, Clarke hoped it wouldn't be a problem. The princess saving the damsel in distress… if only Raven could see her now.

"It would have to be today," Lexa pointed out.

"Today?" Clarke repeated.

"Oh, you have to film graduation," the brunette realized. She shook her head and held up her hands. "It's fine, that's more important."

"No, no," Clarke said quickly. "My friend Raven-"

"-Don't you do it," the girl in question warned.

"-can take care of filming graduation."

"Oh my god," Raven sighed. "Damn it." Beside her, Octavia chuckled at her misfortune.

"Really?" Lexa asked hopefully.

"Yeah, yeah," Clarke nodded. "It's no problem at all."

The brunette's relief was absolutely apparent. "Thank you _so_ much," she said, reaching out and taking Clarke's hand for just a moment. "You have no idea how much this means to me. I owe you so big for this."

Clarke was fairly certain that her heart stopped when Lexa touched her, but somehow she managed to keep her composure. "Oh, no, you don't owe me anything. I'm happy to help. Me and the planet, you know, go way back."

The first bell rang for class, and Lexa shut her laptop before getting up. "Thank you so much," she said again as she packed up her things. "I'll see you later?"

"Yeah," Clarke answered with a smile. "I'll see you later." She sat there for a moment, almost shocked that she'd gotten through a conversation without embarrassing herself too badly.

"Are you kidding me?" Raven called to the blonde. "Filming graduation? By myself?"

Clarke glanced up and her eyes widened as she saw Raven, Octavia, and Bellamy there watching her. "What… what are you doing?" she asked, grabbing her bag and getting up. "What are you guys doing?"

"Watching our little princess try not to crash and burn," Bellamy answered.

"Did you film that whole thing?" Clarke demanded, glaring past the camera.

"For posterity," Raven told her. "By the way… the wild Clarke Griffin acts the same way around pretty girls that awkward boys do."

Clarke quickly reached out to try and snatch the camera away, but Raven managed to dodge the incoming attack. "You three are awful."

"But, hey, you got some time with Lexa," Octavia pointed out. "And I think Bellamy owes me forty bucks now."

"A school project isn't a date," the young man pointed out. "So, I don't owe you anything yet."

"Wait, what?" Clarke asked, brows knitting together in confusion. "Are you two _betting_ on me?"

"Yeah, they are," Raven threw her friends under the bus to get herself out of trouble.

"Well… who's betting in my favor?" Clarke inquired, though she was still offended.

"I am, of course," Octavia scoffed.

Clarke reached over and wrapped an arm around the brunette's shoulders, pushing past the other two. "Good, you still get to be my friend then," she decided as the two walked to their first class together.

"Hey, have you seen the weather report for today?" Octavia questioned.

"They always overhype these things," Clarke brushed it off. "We'll probably just see a couple of sprinkles and that will be the end of it."

* * *

**Anyone who wants to include weather-related humor in their comments will definitely get an internet high-five!**


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER 2**

With a camera in one hand and tripod under her arm, Clarke followed Lexa into the old, abandoned building. "Wow, this isn't… incredibly dangerous or anything," she commented, looking around the decrepit factory.

"It won't take long," Lexa promised. "I just need to explain what's happened here, and then we can go."

"No problem," the blonde nodded. "Can you hold this for a minute?" She held out the camcorder for the other girl to take.

Lexa walked over and carefully took the piece of equipment, watching as Clarke set up the tripod a handful of feet from where they were going to shoot.

* * *

Back at the high school, final preparations were being made for graduation to start. Raven checked the two cameras that were sitting on tripods down the middle of aisle. While she sharpened the focus on the camera sitting up front, she saw Clarke's mother up on the temporary stage through the viewfinder. The woman seemed to be looking for her daughter, and Raven tried to turn and vanish before she was noticed.

But she was too late.

"Raven," Abby called for the teenager.

"Yeah, Mrs. G.?" Raven asked, turning to face the woman.

"Have you seen Clarke? She's supposed to be here filming graduation."

"Uh, no, actually," Raven lied. "I don't know where she's at."

Dr. Griffin sighed and shook her head. "When you see her, will you tell her I'm looking for her?"

"Will do, boss," the high schooler nodded and saluted the school board member. Beneath her breath she added, "If I don't kill her for this first."

Raven went to get her camcorder, since it was the last camera that was going to record the ceremony. The principal and vice principal, along with a few other important figures throughout the school system, walked out to take their places on the platform. She went over to join them, since she was going to get an angle from in front of the graduating seniors as well. Stairs weren't exactly a friend of her and her leg brace, but she still got up the two steps just fine and went to stand in the corner of the platform.

* * *

Clarke got a camera set up on her tripod, and had a smaller one in her hands. She and Lexa stood in the middle of the abandoned building, near an open, eight foot pit. "Watch your step," she warned the brunette.

Lexa glanced down and behind her before nodding. She faced Clarke again, and straightened out her jacket. "How do I look?"

The blonde sputtered for a moment, trying to make her brain form a proper answer. "You look-… beautiful," she managed to get out.

Lexa looked down once more, to hide a faint smile as she chuckled lightly.

_Oh god, good job, Clarke_, the blonde thought to herself. She was only a walking, talking disaster when Lexa Woods was around. "I mean, um… you-… you look-"

"-Thank you," the brunette interjected sincerely.

"Oh, um, yeah," Clarke responded with a smile. "Whenever you're ready, go ahead."

* * *

Raven huffed before blowing a stray strand of hair out of her face. Graduation was criminally boring – name called, student walked up, went back to their seat, repeat. Next year, her class was going to need to spice this ceremony up. Her braced leg ached uncomfortably, having stood in the same spot for the past hour while she recorded everything.

At least the sun had disappeared behind some clouds, though.

Unfortunately, the air smelled heavy with rain. If they didn't hurry up, they were going to get soaking wet, and that didn't bode well for her equipment. Stifling a yawn, her attention went to Principal Jaha as he spoke to the graduating class. The man was trying to be inspirational, but the only thing he was inspiring was blank stares.

"Today, you stand on the threshold of the future. Your path forward is your own to take, and none of them will be the same. Each of you will make your way in this world, and leave a profound impact upon it."

Suddenly, the skies opened up and rain began pouring down on them. Perfect. Just what they needed.

Jaha got the message: it was time to finish up. He spoke as he and dozens of others pulled out umbrellas. "All right, guys, stand up," he said, motioning for the students to get up. "Seniors, we salute you!"

Graduation caps went into the air and were quickly blown away by the wind. Not ten seconds after, the tornado sirens began blaring. That was all it took to instill a firm sense of panic in the crowd.

"Okay, everybody inside," the principal said as calmly as he could.

Raven pointed her camera skyward as she moved off the platform. If she could get a shot of a tornado…

Wait.

She had no idea where Clarke was. If the weather really was turning bad, she needed to warn her best friend. There was no time, however, as the crowd rushed inside while the wind whipped around them. She paused once she got into the building, turning with her camera and was greeted with the sight of a tornado.

"Oh, shit." She rushed further down the hall with Clarke's mother and took shelter as the storm ripped away parts of the high school.

* * *

In the abandoned factory, the two girls couldn't hear the tornado sirens. They did hear the rain start pounding on the roof, and the wind pick up. "That's… weird," Lexa said, looking over her shoulder.

Clarke rolled her eyes as her phone started beeping in her pocket. "Hold this?" she requested, handing the camera over to the brunette. She pulled her phone out and saw who it was. "Ugh, my mom."

"Not going to answer?" Lexa questioned, turning the camera around to face her blonde companion.

"No way," Clarke shook her head. "I missed the whole graduation."

"Oh, that's right. Your mom is on the school board. Is she going to be pissed?"

"Um… maybe," Clarke shrugged. When the phone stopped ringing, she went to slide it in her pocket. The device started going off just seconds after she started putting it away. With an exasperated sigh, she pulled it out and checked the number. It wasn't her mother's phone this time.

"Raven?"

"Clarke! Are you okay?" her mother's voice came through the other end.

"Mom? Yeah, I'm okay-"

"-Where are you?"

The urgency in her mother's voice drove her to answer with honesty. "The old paper mill. Why, what's wrong?"

Whatever answer she was meant to receive cut out badly and she could here interference. Through the mechanical noises, she heard bits of her mother's voice and she picked up a single word: tornado.

"Clarke?" Lexa asked, raising a brow at her classmate.

The blonde pocketed the phone and looked around. "We have to get out of here, she said there's a tornado," she said.

Behind them, a pair of metal panels was ripped off the building. "It's too late," Lexa stated.

The roof was quick to follow the two panels as the tornado ripped the building apart. Thinking quickly, Lexa grabbed Clarke with both hands and yanked her along as she jumped into the pit. They hit the bottom as the building collapsed around them.

* * *

"Abby! Where are you going?" Jaha called after the woman.

"I'm going to get my daughter," Abby answered, determination in her voice.

"Wait up, I'm coming too," Raven called after the retreating woman.

Abby stopped at that, turning to the camera toting teen and shaking her head. "No way. It's too dangerous."

"Come on, you could need help," Raven pointed out.

"Hey! We're coming too!" Octavia announced as she pulled her brother along with her. She'd overheard them talking about going to get Clarke.

"No. None of you are coming with me. It's too dangerous out there," Abby denied them once more.

"Mrs. Griffin, you could need the help," Bellamy went with the same argument Raven had. "Clarke is our friend and we want to help find her."

Abby pursed her lips and looked over the teens. "Fine," she agreed. "But you have to listen to me, all right? If I say to do something, you do it."

She got a round of half-hearted, semi-agreements as they all walked out of the school together. Bricks were strewn everywhere, a bus was on its side – on top of another vehicle, and there were even a few trees laying across the parking lot. It seemed they had gotten quite lucky, as far as deadly weather was concerned. Hopefully it had completely missed the paper mill altogether.

"We'll take my car," Abby told them, seeing that her SUV was one of the few that got out relatively unscathed. There were a few branches laying across it, but the windows were still intact and there wasn't a bus laying across it.

"Shotgun!" Octavia called the front passenger seat.

"O, now is not the time for that," Bellamy chastised his sister.

"There's always time for shotgun," she replied, taking a few steps ahead of him to get to the car at the same time as Abby.

The four piled into the SUV and Abby quickly got it started, turning in her seat so she could back out of her parking spot. She caught sight of Raven still using her camcorder. "Are you still recording all of this?" she questioned. "Put it away."

"Not a chance," Raven shook her head. There was no way she was going to miss any of this.


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER 3**

Light filtered in through gaps of twisted metal, as dust and smaller bits of debris settled around them. "Lexa, are you okay?" Clarke asked, coughing as she inhaled some of the dust around them.

"Um… yeah, I think so," Lexa said, though she didn't sound like she was all right.

The blonde pulled out her phone and flipped on her flashlight app to give them some extra light. The pair spent the next ten minutes trying to push and shove their way out of the pit, but it was no use. They gave up and she saw Lexa take a seat. The brunette winced and rolled up her pant leg, revealing a gash across her ankle. There wasn't a great deal of blood, but it did look painful.

"Hey, don't touch it," Clarke advised. She reached over and grabbed her backpack, which had been over her shoulder when they had to jump to safety. Ever prepared for a lunchtime malfunction, she pulled out an extra shirt from the bag. "Let me help."

Lexa drew her hands away from her leg, and took Clarke's phone to shine the light on the wound. Clarke inspected the gash to make sure there was no debris in it. "Does it hurt?" she questioned.

"A little," the brunette admitted.

"Okay, I'm going to tie this around it, so nothing gets in it," Clarke explained her actions before doing them. She lifted the shirt and wrapped it around Lexa's ankle, careful as she tied it into place.

Lexa winced as pressure was put onto the cut, but didn't complain. It went without saying, where Clarke got her first aid skills from. Her mother was the Chief of Medical Staff at the hospital, and the most respected doctor there. "Thanks."

"No problem," Clarke nodded, moving to sit across from Lexa. In the silence that followed, they could hear rain hitting the metal that trapped them where they were. Only a few minutes of it ended up being more than she could handle. "So, did you tell your parents where you were going today?"

It was that simple, harmless question that made Lexa realize she knew much more about the moderately popular blonde than the other knew about her. "Um, yeah, I told my Uncle Gus that we were coming out here," she said, glancing down.

Another strike for the walking, talking disaster, Clarke thought to herself. "Oh my god, I'm sorry," she apologized. "I shouldn't have-"

"-No, it's okay," Lexa interrupted her. "Don't worry about it."

The blonde still mentally kicked herself for what she'd said. "Well, he knows we're here and so does my mom. They'll find us."

* * *

"The streets are so empty," Octavia commented as they drove down the main drag in the city.

"That's a good thing," Abby pointed out.

The menacing skies above had temporarily let up on the onslaught of rain, but it didn't look like this storm system was done with the city of Silverton, Oklahoma. The group needed to find Clarke and get to shelter as quickly as they could.

Abby slowed the vehicle as she noticed a small truck, covered in pieces of broken plywood parked alongside the road. Two backwater fellows by the looks of them – by their mannerisms and gall to drink in public – sat on a public bench nearby. They were going to get themselves killed.

She rolled down the passenger window of the car, since they were on the other side of the street. "Gentlemen," she called out to them, but they ignored her. "Guys! Hey, listen!"

"Hey, dickwads!" Octavia shouted out the window.

"Octavia!" Bellamy yelled at his sister.

However, her shout at the men got their attention. "What?" one of them asked.

"You need to get inside," Abby advised them. "It's not safe to be out here."

"Have you looked around? It's like… the zombie apocalypse out here," the other man stated, motioning to the abandoned street.

"Mrs. G., we should keep going," Raven pointed out.

"Wait, what's that?" Octavia questioned, leaning closer to the windshield as she looked up at the clouds. There were a swirling mass of gray not far ahead of them, and it was starting to lower.

The older woman in the driver's seat looked ahead of them as well, before her eyes widened. "We need to go." She threw the SUV into reverse, turning to look behind them as she stomped on the gas pedal. As they quickly backed up, a funnel dropped from the sky and made contact with the ground.

The tornado was a beastly mass of wind that obliterated the public library, but it was also a jumper. Abby spun the wheel hard and shifted them back into drive, but they hadn't gotten away fast enough. The vortex lifted from the ground and jumped, dropping dangerously close to the SUV. The wind took hold of the vehicle, spinning it violently and careening it into another car.

"Everybody out! Get inside!" Abby yelled over the wind. Her door was smashed up against the other car, and she couldn't get out, so she waited until Octavia was out and followed the teenager. Together, they ran across the street to a bistro, seeking safety inside.

* * *

Rain seeped in through the gaps in the debris blocking their escape. It wasn't a large enough amount to be alarming, but it did keep them uncomfortably wet. Clarke and Lexa had talked idly about school, friends, and homework, and fell back to a short-lived silence. The blonde made sure that Lexa kept her leg at least slightly elevated, to keep it from bleeding too badly.

"So, what internship was your application for?" Clarke questioned.

"I want to go into Environmental Law," the brunette explained. "There's a law firm in Tulsa that takes applications all across the state for two intern positions over the summer. I was hoping to get one of them."

Suddenly, Clarke remembered something. "Oh, yeah… you're the reason that the school recycles, and why we have to go so far as to separate out which kinds of paper go where."

"The school recycling the way it does saves three tons of perfectly reusable materials from going to landfills, to sit and rot."

"I heard you wouldn't leave the administrators alone until they started the recycling program."

"Yeah, I wouldn't let them ignore me. It was actually your mom who pushed the whole thing through. If not for her, all of my campaigning for going green would have been a waste of time."

"At least she did something good for someone," Clarke sighed as she leaned back against a wall of the pit.

"You two don't get along?" Lexa questioned.

"Not really," the blonde shook her head. "For a few reasons… one being she wants me to follow in her footsteps and become a doctor."

"That's not what you want to do?"

"No. I want to be an artist. So, instead of taking the advanced classes she wants me to, I went with Shop, Art, and Music. I just… told her I was going with the advanced electives."

A few moments of silence passed between the two after that, before Lexa spoke again. "Hey, I'm sorry I dragged you out here."

"No, no, don't apologize," Clarke responded quickly. "It's okay. Nobody could have known this would happen."

"Unless we had listened to the weather reports," the brunette replied, quirking a brow and grinning faintly.

"Well… maybe," Clarke shrugged. "But half the time they're wrong anyway, so… nobody knew the weather was actually going to get bad."

Lexa was about to speak again, but noise outside caught there attention. Things were shifting above them, it almost sounded like…

"Hey, we're down here!" Clarke called as she stood up to try and look out. "Help us!"

Lexa stood beside the other young woman, but it was impossible to see if anyone was out there. No one responded to their cries for help, but there was still movement above. Maybe their rescuer was working too hard to grunt out a response?

Suddenly they heard a metallic crack and several more objects fell onto the pit, making a few smaller pieces fall in with them. They heard rushing water, before torrents of the liquid starting pouring into the pit. Both girls jumped back to avoid the newly formed waterfall.

"Oh my god," Clarke said, looking back up at the debris trapping them. Any chance of pushing their way out was long gone now that more metal and concrete lay above them.

"It will be okay," Lexa tried to reassure her companion. "We're going to be all right."

It soon became apparent to them that the water was just as trapped as they were, as it began gathering around their feet. Whatever the pit had been used for, it now held them and the water very securely.

"We're going to die down here," Clarke shook her head.

Lexa walked over to her classmate, and took hold of both her hands. "We're not," she said confidently. "Let's see if we can move some of this debris again. If we can't, we'll still be okay. Your mom or my uncle will come to get us."

Clarke squeezed the brunette's hands, needing the reassurance. "Okay," she agreed after a moment.

Together, they went to one of the corners of the space, hoping that it would be the easiest spot to get out from. Working side by side, they tried several times to push a piece of sheet metal out of the way, but there was something heavy above that kept it in place. It was hard to say just how long the two attempted to free themselves, but eventually they were forced to give up again.

"We're stuck," Clarke stated the obvious.

"And that's okay, someone will find us," Lexa assured her.

* * *

After the tornado had passed and dissipated, the group slowly made their way out of the restaurant. "That was way too close," Bellamy decided.

"You three should stay here," Abby told the teenagers. "You'll be safer inside."

"No way," Raven shook her head. "You're going to need our help."

"What did I say about doing what I tell you to?" the older woman asked.

"We're teenagers," Raven shrugged. "Now, let's go get Clarke."

The small group headed across the street and got back into the now beat up SUV. Abby tried a few times to get it to start, but Raven got out to take a look under the hood when it refused to turn over. Mechanically inclined, she hoped to be able to fix whatever the problem was.

With her good leg, Raven pushed herself up onto her tiptoes, leaning as far under the hood as she could. It took a few moments of visual hunting, but then she found a belt that had come loose. "Bingo."

Reaching further in, she grabbed the item and placed it back on its track. "Try it now!" she called to Abby, though she stayed where she was so she could watch the ignition process. The doctor turned the key in the ignition and this time it started right up.

"Yes! Go me," Raven praised herself, dropping back to the ground and pulling the hood down.

"Get in the car!" Abby hollered up to the teenager.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming," Raven grumbled as she moved around to get into the vehicle again. Once she was inside, they got on the move again. It was a twenty minute drive from the center of town to the paper mill, which Bellamy pointed out would be a much more efficient if they took the side streets instead of the freeway.


	4. Chapter 4

**Today's weather report is calling for a high emotional front to roll in with this chapter. You are advised to stop and take a deep breath before continuing, and maybe have a tissue or two ready.**

* * *

**CHAPTER 4**

The water level in the pit rose at an alarming rate and was making Clarke panic. Already, it was above their hips and climbing fast. As far as she was concerned, there was very little chance anyone was going to find them in time. There was just no possible way they had enough time for someone to get to them from the city.

Realization dawned on her cruelly – once the water got high enough, she wouldn't be able to keep her head above the water. "Lexa, I can't swim," she panicked.

The brunette moved closer to Clarke, taking her hand. "It will be okay," she said calmly. "I'll help you. We'll hold on to one of those beams overhead, don't worry."

Clarke nodded slowly, looking at the hand clasped gently around hers. "If I had to get stuck down here, I'm glad it's with you."

"Let's check our phones one more time, see if there's any signal," Lexa suggested. She hoped with something to do, she could distract the blonde from their decidedly bleak outlook.

The blonde looked at her phone and held it up toward the debris above them, hoping to get a signal. Beside her, Lexa did the same thing, but it wasn't looking good… until, suddenly, Clarke's phone registered a single bar of reception.

"Oh my god, I've got one!" she said happily, hitting her mother's number. It went straight to voicemail, but it was better than nothing. "Mom! Mom, we need your help! The building collapsed, we're trapped – there's water rushing in! Please, hurry!"

The phone went dead, water having killed her battery. "That's… that's it."

"Remember what I said, Clarke, it's going to be okay," Lexa reminded the other. "Come over here. There was a ledge on the front side of the pit. We can stand on it, get us closer to where we can hold on before the water gets too high."

With gentle coaxing, Lexa drew Clarke to the front of the pit and they stepped up onto the ledge. It wasn't much of a difference, but it would be easier for them to reach the steel and concrete above.

"Wait, all those chemicals you were talking about… are we going to, like, get poisoned?" Clarke questioned. "Or irradiated? I don't think I could do the whole two head thing."

"No," Lexa shook her head.

"But you said this place is soaked in chemicals and hazardous waste."

"We won't be in the water long enough for it to have an effect, but we should both probably take a hot shower after this."

"Oh." Clarke couldn't decide if that was comforting or not. She knew that meant they would either get rescued before the toxins could harm them, or they would drown. Actually, it wasn't all that comforting after all. It was fairly depressing, honestly.

It seemed that the higher the water climbed, the faster the pit began to fill up. Even though they were standing higher now, the water was still getting to chest height.

* * *

Abby and the high schoolers had finally broken free from the city proper and were working their way out into the country. Their surroundings weren't promising – damage everywhere, houses gone, debris in the road… It made Abby's heart rate skyrocket with anxiety for her only daughter's well-being.

A large flatbed truck was coming down the road in the opposite direction. "Wave them down," Abby told Octavia.

The teenager did as she was bid, rolling down her window and flagging the truck. The man driving slowed down and stuck his head out the window to talk to them. "There's a shelter at the high school, that's where you should be heading," he advised.

Raven turned her camera on the vehicle beside them, sweeping over more than a dozen people sitting in the back. They lined the plywood braced bed, and another row sat down the middle.

"We just came from there, you should keep going," Abby replied. "Have you been by the paper mill to the north?"

"Uh, yeah, there's nothing left," the man answered. "The whole industrial park is totally flattened."

Abby felt her heart hit the ground when he spoke. "You should get those people to the shelter, it's still dangerous to be out here." She didn't wait for his response, rolling up the passenger window and taking off again. If there really was that much damage… she needed to get to Clarke.

The teens in the car had fallen to solemn silence, also worried about the blonde. They knew it was a bad sign, if the factory was flattened. There was a chance they weren't going to-

The buzzing of a phone went off, and Abby shifted in her seat to pull hers out. Since she was driving, she handed it off to Octavia. "See what it is," she said.

Octavia took the phone, Raven and Bellamy leaning up from the backseat to try and get a look. "It's a voicemail," the brunette announced, hitting play and putting the message on speaker.

_"Mom! Mom, we need your help! The building collapsed, we're trapped – there's water rushing in!"_

Whether there was more to the message or not, it cut out there. Abby lifted a hand over her mouth, her daughter's terrified voice echoing in her ears.

"Can we go any faster?" Bellamy questioned.

The answer came as the engine grew louder and they started moving quicker along the road. They still had to be careful, in case the weather turned violent again or they came up on debris in the road, but Abby was going to get there as quickly as she could.

* * *

With water covering their shoulders, Clarke's hope was dwindling with every single drop of water that spilled down into the pit with them. "Lexa… I don't think we're going to make it out of here," she said quietly.

"It's okay," Lexa replied.

"What if we don't? What if we don't even get a chance to say goodbye?" the blonde questioned.

Lexa was silent for a few moments. Though she still had at least a shred of hope, she knew that Clarke was right. There was a chance they wouldn't make it out of the pit and wouldn't have a chance to talk to the people that they loved again.

"What about your camera?" she suggested. "We could record a message, somebody might find it."

The camera had been tucked up into a moderately dry place in the debris above them. It had been pointed down at them and was left recording. The blonde reached up and took it, making sure it was okay. With trembling hands, she turned it so that it faced Lexa.

"Whenever you're ready," Clarke said.

Lexa nodded, looking down for a moment even though all she could see was the water that lapped at her chin. She put on her best game face before looking up into the camera again. "Uncle Gus, if you're watching this, it means we – Clarke and I – didn't make it out of this pit at the old paper mill. I know there were a lot of times when you didn't feel like you were enough, after Mom and Dad… well, you _were_ enough.

"I couldn't have asked for a better person to raise me. There was never a moment when I doubted how much you cared about or loved me. Thank you for everything you did for me and... may we meet again."

She had to pause a moment as her throat constricted and voice cracked, before gathering herself and continuing. "Costia… I'm sorry that I got mad when you told me your family was moving. And Anya, you were the best friend anyone could have asked for. Take care of each other." There was more she could have said, but instead she kept her words concise.

"Okay, that's it," she told Clarke.

The blonde was already teary-eyed as she handed over the camera. It had been emotional, watching Lexa say goodbye to those she cared about. She knew it would be even harder when she was trying to get her own out.

As the camera was turned on her, she looked into it for a moment before starting to speak. "Mom… I think you already knew this, but I blamed you for Dad's death. You save so many people every day at the hospital and you… and you couldn't save him," she paused, trying her hardest not to break down. A couple of tears still slid down her cheeks.

"Not once, not even for a moment, have I stopped blaming you. But, Dad told me forgiveness isn't about what we think someone deserves, so… I forgive you. I was probably wrong to blame you, but now I forgive you. I'm sorry that it took this long – Dad always said I got my stubborn side from you. I forgive you, Mom, and I'm sorry.

"Raven will probably tell you that this is her fault, but that's just her usual attention seeking behavior. It's just like that brace on her leg. Only one good leg, right, Raven?" She knew her best friend would understand that she was joking, and hopefully it would make this all a little easier for everyone.

"And Mom…" It was getting harder and harder not to let her emotions get the best of her. "I love you. I love you, Mom."

Bottom lip shaking, she nodded at Lexa to let her know she was done. The camera was tucked back up into its spot on the ledge – even though they couldn't get out, the camera was safe up under the debris. At least there was a chance someone would find it there.

Already, they had to hold onto the debris above them to stay above the water. The space between the liquid and the steel they were holding onto was shrinking fast.

"God, I didn't think this was how I was going to go out," Clarke commented. "I haven't done enough… haven't kissed enough people."

"Haven't kissed enough people?" the brunette repeated, lifting a brow.

"Not nearly enough," Clarke shook her head. She thought for a moment before voicing a question, "So, um, Lexa? Can we pretend this is a date? One that's gone horribly wrong, obviously, but still a date?"

"A date?"

"Yeah, if I'm mortified about asking you out, maybe I'll be a little less mortified about the fact that we're going to die."

With her free hand, Lexa grabbed a piece of metal closer to her classmate and pulled herself over through the water. "Don't be afraid, Clarke," she told the other.

"Most people are afraid of dying," the blonde pointed out.

"Because they think it's the end, but it's not. It's just another beginning. Our spirits will go on after this, and we'll meet again."

Clarke couldn't stop the couple of fresh tears that slipped free as she listened to Lexa's reassurances. The other girl was so confident of her words, Clarke couldn't help but believe her. The thought that this wasn't actually the end was a comforting one, and it actually brought her a sense of peace.


End file.
